Ian Holloway convinced that Swindon Town can make 2025/26 playoffs
He says recent results against promoted teams ‘bode well’
Swindon Town manager Ian Holloway is convinced that the Robins can make playoffs next season.
While the team had a chance to make the Top 7 last season, they ended up missing out after a 1-0 loss against Bromley on Easter Monday.
The situation looked very different, though, when Holloway first took over in October 2024 – and Swindon Town were sitting just outside the relegation zone.
In an interview with Greatest Hits Radio Ian Holloway said: “I feel deeply disappointed that when I first came here, I thought they were good enough. Right from day one, with the skill they had, I thought we were go going to get to the playoffs. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that.”
Top 4 goal scoring team
The problem, he continued, was not scoring goals but the goals they let in.
In the 2024/25 season, the Robins scored a total of 71 goals – making them the team with the fourth highest number of goals in the EFL League Two.
In terms of conceding, however, Swindon come in in the lower half of the table – in 16th place – having let in 63 goals.
“We have to stop twenty goals from going in. That will change eight results to six more wins, two more draws and then we’ll have the points that get us in there.
“I believe we might do even better than that next year if we can have a full season at it and try and challenge the top three because recently, we beat one of them 5-4 and drew with the other two who went up.
“So, it bodes well, but we have to be resilient, we have to come back together and we have to get more people thorough the gate.
'You can turn a down into an up'
“All I can control is what my team do when we’re losing. And they never give up. We always kept going and we scored more late goals than anyone to turn games around and that fills me with joy because we’re not going to accept things.
“Life gives you downs and if you show that that’s all you’re going to have. But you can turn a down into an up if you believe you can and you never give up.”
In March, it was announced that Holloway would stay at the County Ground for another three years.
If he sticks it out, he will be the first Swindon Town manager since Andy King – who led the Robins from 2001 until 2005 – to have been in charge at the County Ground for four consecutive seasons.
“My job is trying to create a team that I’m proud of and that makes you proud", he added.
“It’s a big job but I’m honoured to be given three more years to do it."